One of my favorite farm chores is getting up at dawn on a clear morning and feeding the chickens.
Chickens are such joyous animals in the morning. They get noisy when I go into their area. The noise level gets louder and louder as they hear me open the feed bucket and fill the feeders and finally, when the doors to the chicken tractor are opened they come pouring out flapping wings (and this current group is still small enough to be able to get a few inches off of the ground) and crowd around the newly filled feeders and the waterer and fill up after a night long fast.
After feeding he birds, the coffee is done brewing and I go back in the house and grab a cup.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Friday, April 13, 2007
RIP Vonnegut
I was very saddened to hear the news yesterday that Kurt Vonnegut had died. It was the first thing I heard when I turn on WMUB/NPR. I don't often cry for dead people I have never met but I did for Kurt.
He was my favorite author as well as a great critic of society, politics, etc..
I did almost meet him once. He spoke at Miami University back in the early 1990's. I was working at DiPaolo's and was pissed off that I had been scheduled to work the night of his lecture. I felt somewhat better that my boss, George DiPaolo Jr, was also working that night and wanted to go to the lecture as well. We were commiserating together about missing Vonnegut when he walked in the dinning room with his Miami escort and proceeded to get good and drunk. DiPaolo's had a policy that no employee was to bother famous people (they did a some catering of big musical events and since they were the finest eatery in town that is where the famous would be taken to eat) so I was not allowed to go and introduce myself but I did get to see him down 5 gin and tonics in about an hour
He was my favorite author as well as a great critic of society, politics, etc..
I did almost meet him once. He spoke at Miami University back in the early 1990's. I was working at DiPaolo's and was pissed off that I had been scheduled to work the night of his lecture. I felt somewhat better that my boss, George DiPaolo Jr, was also working that night and wanted to go to the lecture as well. We were commiserating together about missing Vonnegut when he walked in the dinning room with his Miami escort and proceeded to get good and drunk. DiPaolo's had a policy that no employee was to bother famous people (they did a some catering of big musical events and since they were the finest eatery in town that is where the famous would be taken to eat) so I was not allowed to go and introduce myself but I did get to see him down 5 gin and tonics in about an hour
Difficult Spring So Far
So far spring has sucked. It got way too warm way too early so we lost a lot of lettuce and spinach to bolting during the warm period. Than it got very cold and we got quite a bit of damage to the raspberries and maybe the grapes. We won't know for a few weeks if these crops will be alright.
Fortunately we are very very good at growing in cold conditions and have a lot of know how and paraphernalia to keep our crops alive when it freezes. That and we did not transplant the tender crops like tomatoes, cucumbers and zucchinis into the hoophouses the first week of April as planned.
Still, despite not losing much and finding that the strawberries in the hoophouse had not only survived the week of subfreezing conditions but are making berries, it was a very difficult week of not being able to do anything much in the garden because of all the snow, wind and rain and not knowing if we had done enough to save most of the crops. This has translated into big time stress. If enough damage was done to certain crops we lose a lot a of money and over a year of work establishing them.
Now the weather is a bit better, not much, but some. Yesterday we worked in high winds and snow/rain trying to keep row covers from bashing tender young plants which was a futile effort. We go out and tighten hem up and put more weight to keep them down and than turn around to see some of them flying again. We did get a hoophouse all ready for the cukes and squash that are getting way too big. We put down drip tape and landscape fabric. Now we have to wait for the black fabric to heat up the soil for 5 days or so and we can put the seedlings in the hoophouse.
Today has been quite nice, sunny and about 55˚F with light winds. This allowed me to folier feed most everything in the ground. Folier feeding is one way we fertilize crops. We use a combination of powdered, water soluble kelp and powdered fish emulsion with a dash of Dr Bronner's peppermint soap as a sticker. We were able to move the chicks to clean ground as well. They seemed to enjoy getting onto new ground with uneaten clover. If the weather were dryer we would move the birds daily but because it has been both wet and cold we have been forced to leave them be and have resorted to thickly bedding them to keep them cleanish and dry. The upside to this is we have some good material for the compost pile.
Fortunately we are very very good at growing in cold conditions and have a lot of know how and paraphernalia to keep our crops alive when it freezes. That and we did not transplant the tender crops like tomatoes, cucumbers and zucchinis into the hoophouses the first week of April as planned.
Still, despite not losing much and finding that the strawberries in the hoophouse had not only survived the week of subfreezing conditions but are making berries, it was a very difficult week of not being able to do anything much in the garden because of all the snow, wind and rain and not knowing if we had done enough to save most of the crops. This has translated into big time stress. If enough damage was done to certain crops we lose a lot a of money and over a year of work establishing them.
Now the weather is a bit better, not much, but some. Yesterday we worked in high winds and snow/rain trying to keep row covers from bashing tender young plants which was a futile effort. We go out and tighten hem up and put more weight to keep them down and than turn around to see some of them flying again. We did get a hoophouse all ready for the cukes and squash that are getting way too big. We put down drip tape and landscape fabric. Now we have to wait for the black fabric to heat up the soil for 5 days or so and we can put the seedlings in the hoophouse.
Today has been quite nice, sunny and about 55˚F with light winds. This allowed me to folier feed most everything in the ground. Folier feeding is one way we fertilize crops. We use a combination of powdered, water soluble kelp and powdered fish emulsion with a dash of Dr Bronner's peppermint soap as a sticker. We were able to move the chicks to clean ground as well. They seemed to enjoy getting onto new ground with uneaten clover. If the weather were dryer we would move the birds daily but because it has been both wet and cold we have been forced to leave them be and have resorted to thickly bedding them to keep them cleanish and dry. The upside to this is we have some good material for the compost pile.
Cheese Making
Today I am making cheese for the first time in my life. We have not been drinking all of our allotment of raw milk each week since the oven broke 3 weeks ago (the bottom element fried itself and a new one has been ordered) and a month ago bought Sandor Katz's book on fermented foods so I decided since we had an extra gallon of milk in the fridge and some rennet tablets it was time to try my hand at cheese making.
At this point in time I have heated the milk gently to 100˚F, added a 1/2 cup of homemade yogurt, let the milk stand at 100˚F for just over an hour to let the yogurt cultures grow and culture the milk (i.e. give it some tang) and a minute or two ago added the rennet. Now I wait 1/2 hour for the rennet to do it's work.
After the milk has coagulated I will carefully cut the curds and put them into a cheesecloth lined colander, add salt and let them drain and become cheese.
I want a harder cheese so will let this sit for a week or two and than eat it.
At this point in time I have heated the milk gently to 100˚F, added a 1/2 cup of homemade yogurt, let the milk stand at 100˚F for just over an hour to let the yogurt cultures grow and culture the milk (i.e. give it some tang) and a minute or two ago added the rennet. Now I wait 1/2 hour for the rennet to do it's work.
After the milk has coagulated I will carefully cut the curds and put them into a cheesecloth lined colander, add salt and let them drain and become cheese.
I want a harder cheese so will let this sit for a week or two and than eat it.
Aspartame and the Politics of Food
Aspartame/Nutrasweet approval:
"Rumsfeld was president of Serle corporation in 1977, maker of aspartame, then, part of Reagan transition team, and got aspartame 'legalized' by appointing a defense department contractor [??] (Hayes) as head of FDA!
In January 1981 Rumsfeld told a sales meeting, according to one attendee, that he would call in his chips and get aspartame approved by the end of the year. On January 25th, the day the new president took office, the previous FDA commissioner's authority was suspended, and the next month, the commissioner's job went to Dr. Arthur Hull Hayes.
Transition records do not show why the administration chose ***Hayes, a professor and Defense Department contract researcher.*** In July Hayes, defying FDA advisors, approved aspartame for dry foods -- his first major decision. In November 1983 the FDA approved aspartame for soft drinks -- Hayes' last decision. In November 1983 Hayes, under fire for accepting corporate gifts, left the agency and went to Searle's public-relations firm as senior medical advisor. Later Searle lawyer Robert Shapiro named aspartame NutraSweet.
Monsanto purchased Searle. Rumsfeld received a $12 million bonus. Shapiro is now Monsanto president. .....Former White House Chief of Staff Rumsfeld owed a debt of gratitude to former White House confidante and Rumsfeld friend Donald Kendal, Pepsi's chairman. The Pepsi announcement and aggressive marketing (millions of gumballs, a red and white swirl, tough contracts) made NutraSweet known in every home. ....From 1985 to 1995, researchers did about 400 aspartame studies. They were divided almost evenly between those that gave assurances and those that raised questions about the sweetener. Most instructively, Searle paid for 100% of those finding no problem. All studies paid for by non-industry sources raised questions."---James S. Turner
Aspartame is a toxin, and is unique in this hazardous respect. This in NOT an allergic reaction, but rather a true toxin. No other food can be provided as a comparison to the toxic nature of NutraSweet. Upon closer examination, the available research revealed that the manufacturer (Monsanto) and the FDA are manipulating the public (via the media) into thinking that aspartame is safe. It is not. As an American who trusted the system we all created, as an American who worked for the system, it made me angry that public health has taken a backseat to greed. This is the "engine" that perpetuated this epidemic: the collusion of our government with multi-national conglomerate influence. Arthur M. Evangelista Former FDA Investigator. Aspartame: The History Of A Killer - The Whole Story By Arthur M. Evangelista
Monday, April 09, 2007
Don't Mess with Our Chocolate!
Now is the time to take action!
What this proposed FDA law would do is make it so that up to 100% of the cocoa butter in chocolate could be replaced by vegetable fats and they could still call it Chocolate! So when you buy a bar of "fine chocolate" there would be a possibility that there is vegetable fats in it and not cocoa butter.
Cocoa butter is important because of the way it melts. If this change occurs the companies that use vegetable fats will have chocolate that will have a horrible melting property and ruin the taste and feel of the chocolate.
This law will confuse people on what real chocolate is in a time when people WANT REAL CHOCOLATE!
So write in to the FDA! All the instructions are on the link below and it only takes a minute. Go tell them that you don't want to allow vegetable oils in Chocolate!
http://dontmesswithourchocolate.guit...sthisabout.asp
Click on he link above to learn more and to stop this crazy idea. I for one do not want inferior hydrogenated vegetable oils in my chocolate
Picture Time
It's been fridgid here on the farm and i have gone back into winter hibernation until spring returns.
Here are some pix I took during the summery weather of the a couple of weeks ago
Danny and Nate standing in the barn's doorway
Mold on a drying Squash.
Here are some pix I took during the summery weather of the a couple of weeks ago
Danny and Nate standing in the barn's doorway
Mold on a drying Squash.Friday, April 06, 2007
Almost Famous
Wednesday after a final push to get everything covered and ready for the hard freeze we took a trip down south to pick up our allotment of raw milk for the week. Because we had not been to the post office in many days and I had a catnip order to send out from an order recieved from my Local Harvest virtual store front we went to the PO to get the mail out of the PO Box we have.
In the PO Box was a large envelope with 2 copies of the April edition of the Country Folks Grower (Midwest edition) that has Boulder Belt Eco-Farm as the featured farm. This article was from an interview I did with the author Kelly Gates about 6 weeks ago. It should be on the web in a month or so, maybe less.
Also in the PO box was a yellow card telling us we had something too big for the box to pick up at the front counter. So while I was mailing a package of catnip to Manassas, VA I also picked up the package that was from Seattle but not from my sister. Inside the package was a book, "To Buy or Not to Buy Organic" by Cindy Burke (available on Amazon, Barnes and Nobel and at some local book sellers) and a letter thanking me for for my time. I was puzzled by this. I did not remember at the time being interviewed by this person. But there was a pink post-it in the book and it was marking a nice profile of the farm plus some of my rantings on why Boulder Belt is no longer certified organic by the USDA. I later read through the end notes and found the date of the interview and it all came back to me.
Talk about short to medium memory loss...
The other thing that happened on Wednesday before we got on the road to pick up the milk and mail was I got two phone calls. One from a loyal blog reader from Loveland, OH (I am sorry I did not get your name, feel free to leave it in the educations) asking if his garlic would be okay during the hard freeze. I said I thought so but putting down some extra mulch won't hurt anything.
The other was from some woman from Youngstown looking for organic farms/CSA's in her area. This woman got my name from my GreenPeople listing and seemed to be of a mind that the only good food was industrial organics and if a farmer was not certified than by default they are using chemicals and GMO's. I tried to explain to her this is not usually the case with us small farmers but she seemed to have her mind set about this opinion. I believe she needs to buy a copy of Ms Burke's book and learn more. At any rate, I gave her the OEFFA web address and assured her that NE Ohio has more than its' fair share of sustainable and organic farms and CSA's as she was convinced that NE Ohio was a wasteland as far as organic foods are concerned. I hope she finds the farm of her dreams and buys the book too.
So Wednesday was a day of a me distributing information to people I have never met or a series of coincidences, but since I do not believe in coincidences there had to be a cosmic reason for the calls and the mail.
In the PO Box was a large envelope with 2 copies of the April edition of the Country Folks Grower (Midwest edition) that has Boulder Belt Eco-Farm as the featured farm. This article was from an interview I did with the author Kelly Gates about 6 weeks ago. It should be on the web in a month or so, maybe less.
Also in the PO box was a yellow card telling us we had something too big for the box to pick up at the front counter. So while I was mailing a package of catnip to Manassas, VA I also picked up the package that was from Seattle but not from my sister. Inside the package was a book, "To Buy or Not to Buy Organic" by Cindy Burke (available on Amazon, Barnes and Nobel and at some local book sellers) and a letter thanking me for for my time. I was puzzled by this. I did not remember at the time being interviewed by this person. But there was a pink post-it in the book and it was marking a nice profile of the farm plus some of my rantings on why Boulder Belt is no longer certified organic by the USDA. I later read through the end notes and found the date of the interview and it all came back to me.
Talk about short to medium memory loss...
The other thing that happened on Wednesday before we got on the road to pick up the milk and mail was I got two phone calls. One from a loyal blog reader from Loveland, OH (I am sorry I did not get your name, feel free to leave it in the educations) asking if his garlic would be okay during the hard freeze. I said I thought so but putting down some extra mulch won't hurt anything.
The other was from some woman from Youngstown looking for organic farms/CSA's in her area. This woman got my name from my GreenPeople listing and seemed to be of a mind that the only good food was industrial organics and if a farmer was not certified than by default they are using chemicals and GMO's. I tried to explain to her this is not usually the case with us small farmers but she seemed to have her mind set about this opinion. I believe she needs to buy a copy of Ms Burke's book and learn more. At any rate, I gave her the OEFFA web address and assured her that NE Ohio has more than its' fair share of sustainable and organic farms and CSA's as she was convinced that NE Ohio was a wasteland as far as organic foods are concerned. I hope she finds the farm of her dreams and buys the book too.
So Wednesday was a day of a me distributing information to people I have never met or a series of coincidences, but since I do not believe in coincidences there had to be a cosmic reason for the calls and the mail.
The Big Chill
After 2 weeks or so of well above average temperatures it is now freezing and this is not good for anyone.
We spent a frantic two days getting protection on the crops we have in the ground under very windy conditions. We did manage to keep row covers on everything that needed a row cover so I do not expect much loss with the annual crops. Most everything we have already put out can take quite a bit of cold so with row covers there should be little to no loss.
I also harvested all the lettuce and spring mix that could be damaged by wind and cold. This means we have quite a bit of stuff for sale right now. If you are in the SW Ohio/EC Indiana area and need fresh yummy greens (I have rarely had such good lettuce) drop me a line so we can set up a time for you to come out and buy some.
I don't know if I can say the same thing about the blackberries, raspberries, apples or pears yet. 2 days before this cold snap arrived the pear decided to go into full bloom and even if the flowers survive temps as low as 18˚F (very doubtful) there are no pollinators out and about to pollinate the flowers. Fortunately pears have the ability to put out 2 sets of flowers. Apples do not and even though the apples had not yet "pinked" (the stage before flowering) this does not mean the flower buds did not start to break dormancy and if they did they will likely be killed and there will be few apples for us this year. I am thankful apples are not a major crop for us or we would be in trouble and I wonder how my friend Scott Downing's orchards are doing. He is one of the bigger apple growers in this area and apples are a very major crop for him.
I am worried about the raspberries and blackberries. Both had leafed out right before the weather turned cold and they likely were developing flower buds that will be damaged by this weather. Than again, both are pretty feral as domesticated crops go and can take a lot of weather abuse before giving up. I am hoping we will be plesently surprised this summer with bumper crops from both.
I gotta say this was not unexpected. For the past 10 months or so we have had temps that are either 25 degrees above normal or 25 degrees below normal and when the temps got warm early I had a feeling we would see some fridgid temps before May. It would not surprise me to see a freeze around my birthday in mid May or later.
I did do one kind of bonehead thing. I ordered chicks early and we picked them up on April 1 and put them out on pasture. I knew this might be a bit early but we have biggish plans for poultry this year and had to start raising birds by April 1st. The thing about chicks is they have to be kept at around 90˚F for the first 5 to 10 days of their lives. this is reasonably easy to do indoors with heat lamps. It is far trickier to do outside on pasture. Eugene did fashion a small hoop structure for them and we have a chicken tractor inside with a lot of straw bedding and 2 heat lamps in the tractor and so far the birds are comfy and happy. The hoop structure is not great at keeping heat in but it does keep the heat sucking winds at bay so the lamps can do their job. Hopefully, the lamps will be enough for tonight when the temps may go below 18˚F. The good news is the weather is predicted to moderate starting Monday and will be in the normal range for about a week.
Climate change makes for a lot of adventures in farming
We spent a frantic two days getting protection on the crops we have in the ground under very windy conditions. We did manage to keep row covers on everything that needed a row cover so I do not expect much loss with the annual crops. Most everything we have already put out can take quite a bit of cold so with row covers there should be little to no loss.
I also harvested all the lettuce and spring mix that could be damaged by wind and cold. This means we have quite a bit of stuff for sale right now. If you are in the SW Ohio/EC Indiana area and need fresh yummy greens (I have rarely had such good lettuce) drop me a line so we can set up a time for you to come out and buy some.
I don't know if I can say the same thing about the blackberries, raspberries, apples or pears yet. 2 days before this cold snap arrived the pear decided to go into full bloom and even if the flowers survive temps as low as 18˚F (very doubtful) there are no pollinators out and about to pollinate the flowers. Fortunately pears have the ability to put out 2 sets of flowers. Apples do not and even though the apples had not yet "pinked" (the stage before flowering) this does not mean the flower buds did not start to break dormancy and if they did they will likely be killed and there will be few apples for us this year. I am thankful apples are not a major crop for us or we would be in trouble and I wonder how my friend Scott Downing's orchards are doing. He is one of the bigger apple growers in this area and apples are a very major crop for him.
I am worried about the raspberries and blackberries. Both had leafed out right before the weather turned cold and they likely were developing flower buds that will be damaged by this weather. Than again, both are pretty feral as domesticated crops go and can take a lot of weather abuse before giving up. I am hoping we will be plesently surprised this summer with bumper crops from both.
I gotta say this was not unexpected. For the past 10 months or so we have had temps that are either 25 degrees above normal or 25 degrees below normal and when the temps got warm early I had a feeling we would see some fridgid temps before May. It would not surprise me to see a freeze around my birthday in mid May or later.
I did do one kind of bonehead thing. I ordered chicks early and we picked them up on April 1 and put them out on pasture. I knew this might be a bit early but we have biggish plans for poultry this year and had to start raising birds by April 1st. The thing about chicks is they have to be kept at around 90˚F for the first 5 to 10 days of their lives. this is reasonably easy to do indoors with heat lamps. It is far trickier to do outside on pasture. Eugene did fashion a small hoop structure for them and we have a chicken tractor inside with a lot of straw bedding and 2 heat lamps in the tractor and so far the birds are comfy and happy. The hoop structure is not great at keeping heat in but it does keep the heat sucking winds at bay so the lamps can do their job. Hopefully, the lamps will be enough for tonight when the temps may go below 18˚F. The good news is the weather is predicted to moderate starting Monday and will be in the normal range for about a week.
Climate change makes for a lot of adventures in farming
Monday, April 02, 2007
Pickin' Up chicks
Yesterday Eugene and I went down to the greater Cincinnati metropolitan area to pick up our first batch of day old chicks at Mt Healthy Hatcheries, where we have bought our chickens for the past 9 years or so.
We got on the road around 10am and traveled down US 127 to the city of Hamilton! (the city is really spelled with an exclamation point-why? I dunno) and than got on RT 4 and travelled to Fairfield and stopped in at Jungle Jim's where we scored big time on discounted fruit and bread. And we saw a really strange item-the fake stick made out of some squishy plastic foam to toss to your dogs for $8.95. The sticks came in a variety of color combinations. What is wrong with a stick made out of tree wood? I guess wooden sticks don't have the RDA of mel-a-mine (and other poisons used to make plastic items) that the modern dog needs.
My dogs chew on raw bones they find in the woods and sticks from real trees. They also take great joy in rolling in dead rodents and the feces from herbivores and birds. They are real dogs and are allowed to act as such. We do ask that they guard the chickens from predators (which they can kill and eat if they wish) and keep the deer out of the garden.
After our JJ's fix we got on the road again and drove to Mt Healthy and picked up the box of chicks. Yes folks chickens come in a box, 50 to a box. We pit the chicks in the van and went home the way we came. We got home around 2:30pm and ate lunch before doing anything with the chicks that we left in the van out of reach of the dogs. Don't feel badly for the chicks as they were packed to go into the USPS system for 2 to 3 days so waiting an additional 2 hours while we ate and got things ready for them ain't nothin'.
it was very windy when we got back and the hoophouse Eugene had put up for the chicks was coming loose because the edges were not dug into the ground they way a big HH for crops is. This is because the hoophouse and the chicken tractor inside will have to be moved in a couple of days and Eugene figured it would be better to weigh down the edges with heavy items such as small boulders, a metal water tank from the 1950's, cinder blocks and anything else that weighs more than 25 pounds. well he had not put enough weight on the plastic and it was beginning to come up so he spent a 1/2 hour hauling more heavy items over to the chicken hoophouse and got it to stay put. While he was doing that I washed out the feeders and waterers they use for the first 10 days or so. Finally we got everything ready-cleaned and filled waters and feeders, a brooder heat lamp in place, the plastic in place, etc.. Now it was time to get the box of peeps and introduce them to their new environment. So with me sitting on the ground in front of the tractor door I gently grabbed a chick, stuck its' beak in water and set it down in the tractor under the heat lamp and repeated this 49 more times until they were all out of the box and running around exploring their new reality. at one point Nate decided he needed to come in the hoophouse and nose a chick or two. After last year we do not trust Nate not to eat a chick. But to his credit, he did back away when told to. Maybe this year he will protect them and not try to eat them (yeah right...)
Soon we realized that we needed to put a fence in the chicken hoophouse as the chicks were finding small openings along the bottom of the hoophouse and trying to escape and the last thing we needed was 50 day old chicks running around the farm in high winds with dogs and other predators around. So Eugene went and got the plastic snow fence and started putting that up inside the hoophouse and immediately the chicks breached that fence, even before he had the thing all the way up. So he pulled the plastic snow fence out of the hoophouse and found the chicken wire fence we have used for tiny chickens in the past. They could not easily get through that, though they did try and did find a few openings at the bottom that we have since closed.
About 2 hours before dusk I found them screaming and cold. The heat lamp had been turned off and they were getting way too cold for comfort so I turned it back on and started placing chicks under it. Some liked the heat and settled in for a nap but others had things to do and places to be and continued to run around. At dusk Eugene tucked them in for the night and the spent an uneventful first night as pastured poultry. When I checked them this morning they were in a heap under the light warm as toast.
We got on the road around 10am and traveled down US 127 to the city of Hamilton! (the city is really spelled with an exclamation point-why? I dunno) and than got on RT 4 and travelled to Fairfield and stopped in at Jungle Jim's where we scored big time on discounted fruit and bread. And we saw a really strange item-the fake stick made out of some squishy plastic foam to toss to your dogs for $8.95. The sticks came in a variety of color combinations. What is wrong with a stick made out of tree wood? I guess wooden sticks don't have the RDA of mel-a-mine (and other poisons used to make plastic items) that the modern dog needs.
My dogs chew on raw bones they find in the woods and sticks from real trees. They also take great joy in rolling in dead rodents and the feces from herbivores and birds. They are real dogs and are allowed to act as such. We do ask that they guard the chickens from predators (which they can kill and eat if they wish) and keep the deer out of the garden.
After our JJ's fix we got on the road again and drove to Mt Healthy and picked up the box of chicks. Yes folks chickens come in a box, 50 to a box. We pit the chicks in the van and went home the way we came. We got home around 2:30pm and ate lunch before doing anything with the chicks that we left in the van out of reach of the dogs. Don't feel badly for the chicks as they were packed to go into the USPS system for 2 to 3 days so waiting an additional 2 hours while we ate and got things ready for them ain't nothin'.
it was very windy when we got back and the hoophouse Eugene had put up for the chicks was coming loose because the edges were not dug into the ground they way a big HH for crops is. This is because the hoophouse and the chicken tractor inside will have to be moved in a couple of days and Eugene figured it would be better to weigh down the edges with heavy items such as small boulders, a metal water tank from the 1950's, cinder blocks and anything else that weighs more than 25 pounds. well he had not put enough weight on the plastic and it was beginning to come up so he spent a 1/2 hour hauling more heavy items over to the chicken hoophouse and got it to stay put. While he was doing that I washed out the feeders and waterers they use for the first 10 days or so. Finally we got everything ready-cleaned and filled waters and feeders, a brooder heat lamp in place, the plastic in place, etc.. Now it was time to get the box of peeps and introduce them to their new environment. So with me sitting on the ground in front of the tractor door I gently grabbed a chick, stuck its' beak in water and set it down in the tractor under the heat lamp and repeated this 49 more times until they were all out of the box and running around exploring their new reality. at one point Nate decided he needed to come in the hoophouse and nose a chick or two. After last year we do not trust Nate not to eat a chick. But to his credit, he did back away when told to. Maybe this year he will protect them and not try to eat them (yeah right...)
Soon we realized that we needed to put a fence in the chicken hoophouse as the chicks were finding small openings along the bottom of the hoophouse and trying to escape and the last thing we needed was 50 day old chicks running around the farm in high winds with dogs and other predators around. So Eugene went and got the plastic snow fence and started putting that up inside the hoophouse and immediately the chicks breached that fence, even before he had the thing all the way up. So he pulled the plastic snow fence out of the hoophouse and found the chicken wire fence we have used for tiny chickens in the past. They could not easily get through that, though they did try and did find a few openings at the bottom that we have since closed.
About 2 hours before dusk I found them screaming and cold. The heat lamp had been turned off and they were getting way too cold for comfort so I turned it back on and started placing chicks under it. Some liked the heat and settled in for a nap but others had things to do and places to be and continued to run around. At dusk Eugene tucked them in for the night and the spent an uneventful first night as pastured poultry. When I checked them this morning they were in a heap under the light warm as toast.
Sunday, April 01, 2007
How to Eat A Chocolate Jesus
There was a story in the news about a man who created a chocolate Jesus for Holy Week. This act pissed off a bunch of Christians and the chocolate Jesus has been banned.
Banned or not, the fact that a chocolate Jesus has been created begs the question just how does one go about eating a chocolate Jesus?
I asked my friends via email about this and here are the best of the replies
Erika D sez:
John W sez:
Melinda M sez:
Banned or not, the fact that a chocolate Jesus has been created begs the question just how does one go about eating a chocolate Jesus?
I asked my friends via email about this and here are the best of the replies
Erika D sez:
Hey Lucy -
I always had the same problem with chocolate bunnies. I could never eat their heads, so eventually my mom just hid a big chocolate egg instead & little toy bunnies sometimes. But you know, I have never had that problem with marshmallow peeps - chicks OR bunnies. Less realistic, I suppose.
x, E.
P.S. I think one should probably not bite Jesus. Just lick him all over until he's just a slimy lump of chocolate and maybe then biting him would be OK.
John W sez:
There are a number of ways to approach chocolate
Jesii, my child.
Apply the chocolate bunny principal and start with the
ears.
Is this particular jesus on a cross? In that case the
order shall be left arm, body, head, then enshrine the
right arm.
Treat him like a real fancy candle such as little girl
with a watering can. You would no more think of
burning down this little wax girl than you would
eating jesus. Put him on your knick knack shelf until
the rapture.
Melinda M sez:
Since this is the holy season of Lent, I believe the correct order would be:
The feet first, to symbolize the cleansing of the feet at passover.
Then gnaw on the back and head, to represent the crown of thorns and the scourging (re: The Passion)
Then on Friday, chomp off the head and bury the rest under a rock until Sunday.
Resurrect the torso and munch down, to represent the ascent into heaven. Extra bonus if the dog pees on the buried chocolate, to represent the descent into hell for a while, although this theology is not as commonly
So how would you eat a chocolate Jesus?
mentioned anymore.
And that's how you eat a chocolate Jesus!
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Onions
Yesterday I started on planting onions. We are doing many kinds of onions-yellow cooking, yellow sweet heirlooms and a couple of kinds of red.
Lauren was back to help and together we raked two beds to get the weeds out and the soil in some other form than big dirt clods. After an hour or two of raking we were ready to put in the Copra onions.
I love Copra onions. They are a wonderful storage onion (I am still using last year's onions, though they are going fast) and have a great flavor too often lacking in yellow cooking onions. The bad news is Copra is a hybrid that was bred by the Seminis Corp which was bought up by Monsanto so after this year we will not be growing Copra any longer. We are trialing another yellow onion called varsity that is also a hybrid but not associated with Monsanto. There is also an open pollinated Copra called Clear Dawn that I will likely trial next year if I do not like Varsity or Varsity gets bought up by Monsanto.
Any Hoo, by sunset I had put about 1000 onion seedlings in the ground. Just have another 5 to 6 thousand to go.
Who knew onions could be so political?
Lauren was back to help and together we raked two beds to get the weeds out and the soil in some other form than big dirt clods. After an hour or two of raking we were ready to put in the Copra onions.
I love Copra onions. They are a wonderful storage onion (I am still using last year's onions, though they are going fast) and have a great flavor too often lacking in yellow cooking onions. The bad news is Copra is a hybrid that was bred by the Seminis Corp which was bought up by Monsanto so after this year we will not be growing Copra any longer. We are trialing another yellow onion called varsity that is also a hybrid but not associated with Monsanto. There is also an open pollinated Copra called Clear Dawn that I will likely trial next year if I do not like Varsity or Varsity gets bought up by Monsanto.
Any Hoo, by sunset I had put about 1000 onion seedlings in the ground. Just have another 5 to 6 thousand to go.
Who knew onions could be so political?
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